Boundary/boundaries dislocation

If tlie level(s) associated witli tlie defect are deep, tliey become electron-hole recombination centres. The result is a (sometimes dramatic) reduction in carrier lifetimes. Such an effect is often associated witli tlie presence of transition metal impurities or certain extended defects in tlie material. For example, substitutional Au is used to make fast switches in Si. Many point defects have deep levels in tlie gap, such as vacancies or transition metals. In addition, complexes, precipitates and extended defects are often associated witli recombination centres. The presence of grain boundaries, dislocation tangles and metallic precipitates in poly-Si photovoltaic devices are major factors which reduce tlieir efficiency. 

Fast diffusion paths grain boundary and dislocation core diffusion... 

Diffusion in the bulk crystals may sometimes be short circuited by diffusion down grain boundaries or dislocation cores. The boundary acts as a planar channel, about two atoms wide, with a local diffusion rate which can be as much as 10 times greater than in the bulk (Figs. 18.8 and 10.4). The dislocation core, too, can act as a high conductivity wire of cross-section about (2b), where b is the atom size (Fig. 18.9). Of course, their contribution to the total diffusive flux depends also on how many grain boundaries or dislocations there are when grains are small or dislocations numerous, their contribution becomes important. 

Saturable The number of sites for hydrogen atoms is fixed (e.g. boundaries, dislocations). 

Changes in electrical resistivity (V3) and mechanical properties (V3, V4) of graphite fibers upon nitration have been studied. Increases in elastic modulus, and decreases in tensile strengths, have been related to removal of boundary dislocations by the intercalation process proposed elsewhere iN4). 

In addition to movement of lattice members within a crystal, it is also possible for there to be motion of members along the surface. Consequently, this type of diffusion is known as surface diffusion. Because crystals often have grain boundaries, cracks, dislocations, and pores, there can be motion of lattice members along and within these extended defects. 

First, I shall describe the hydrogenation method I used and then consider the passivation of surface states and that of bulk dangling bonds, including grain boundaries, dislocations and point defects. 

The behavior of polycrystalline materials is often dominated by the boundaries between the crystallites, called grain boundaries. In metals, grain boundaries prevent dislocation motion and reduce the ductility, leading to hard and brittle mechanical properties. Grain boundaries are invariably weaker than the crystal matrix, and... 

Figure 5.3 Schematic representation of the penetration profile for bulk, grain boundary, and dislocation diffusion in a polycrystalline solid. The initial part of the curve is bell shaped, and the part due to short-circuit diffusion is made up of linear segments. The insets show the distribution of the tracer in the sample.

The term surface of a metal usually means the top layer of atoms (ions). However, in this book the term surface means the top few (two or three) atomic layers of a metal. Surfaces can be divided into ideal and real. Ideal surfaces exhibit no lattice defects (vacancies, impurities, grain boundaries, dislocations, etc.). Real surfaces have all types of defects. For example, the density of metal surface atoms is about 10 and the density of dislocations is on the order of magnitude 10 cm . ... 

Diffusion along defect paths (grain boundaries, dislocations)... 

Tilt boundaries occur if the axis of rotation between the two grains is located in the boundary (interface). In contrast, if the axis of rotation is perpendicular to the boundary, the boundary is called a twist boundary and consists of a collection of screw dislocations (Fig. 3-6b). An equation similar to Eqn. (3.14) holds for twist (and mixed) boundaries. Since dislocation theory is well understood, it is possible to quantitatively treat small-angle grain boundaries [J.P. Hirth, J. Lothe (1982)]. 

Figure 3-7. Fraction of point defects in a-Ag2S adsorbed on grain boundaries and dislocations as a function of the chemical potential of Ag (T = I68°C).

Figure 9.1 presents self-diffusivity data for DD(dissoc), DD(undissoc), DB, DS, DXL, and DL, for f.c.c. metals on a single Arrhenius plot. With the exception of the surface diffusion data, the data are represented by ideal straight-line Arrhenius plots, which would be realistic if the various activation energies were constants (independent of temperature). However, the data are not sufficiently accurate or extensive to rule out some possible curvature, at least for the grain boundary and dislocation curves, as discussed in Section 9.2.3. 

The example in Fig. 13.4 is an extension of the model for the motion of a small-angle boundary by the glide and climb of interfacial dislocations (Fig. 13.3). Figure 13.4 presents an expanded view of the internal surfaces of the two crystals that face each other across a large-angle grain boundary. Crystal dislocations have... 

---